I think the reason why so many people suggest that Bernie could have beaten Trump

[mtnsnake]

is because most people thought that anyone could beat Trump.

I think a better question to ask would be this:

Could Bernie have beaten any Republican candidate OTHER than Trump?

[TCJ70]

1. No one can know the answer to either question...

...and it doesn't matter since he didn't win the primary nor did a different Republican win theirs.

What does matter is that Hillary lost and why. That's the only question that matters at this point.

[duffyduff]

17. She only lost the EC. That is what matters and we know why.

Nt

[PoliticAverse]

2. That's an irrelevant question not a 'fairer' one. n/t

[mtnsnake]

4. Irrelevant to what? Anyway, I'll edit it to change "fairer" to "better"

[PoliticAverse]

6. Irrelevant because Trump was the actual nominee that the Democratic candidate had to defeat. n/t

[onecaliberal]

3. If I recall the polls showed he could beat them all but then again we all know how the shenanigans

Ripped off the election. Either way Hillary was our nominee and I enthusiastically supported her in the general. im starting to believe that our votes do not matter. How does someone who lost by 3 million votes win?

[HassleCat]

5. There is another reason.

Many voters are tired of the major parties. They don't see significant differences between the two, at least not concerning issues that matter to them. This is where Bernie comes in, with his unconventional approach and his focus on economic justice. He would have done very well against Trump, probably winning. Against somebody such as Cruz or Giuliani or Bush, who knows? There are so many variables.

[YoungDemCA]

14. +1

Well said.

[NWCorona]

7. Could? Well that's obviously yes but nothing in life is guaranteed.

[uponit7771]

8. OR ... Could Bernie Beat COMEY, VOTER SUPPRESSION and RUSSIA !?!?!!? These kind of question suppose

... those factors weren't involved and they're not helping.

[brush]

9. Exactly. As if the repugs, Russians and Assange would stop just because it was Sanders

They had plenty of oppo research on Sanders, and I'm sure if the Russians could get into Clinton's campaign email, the could get into Sanders', and they probably did.

Be interesting what was discussed between Weaver, Devine and Sanders about the DNC firewall breech.

[uponit7771]

10. +1, this is watergate 2016 style but this time fuckin Nixon said break in on national TV !!!

[Exilednight]

11. What research? I keep hearing about it, but show me the Repug playbook against Sanders.

If it exists, then it shouldn't be hard to actually post a link to a pdf of it.

[brush]

12. Already been through it with you before. You know how to google for yourself.

[YoungDemCA]

13. "Could Bernie have beaten any Republican candidate OTHER than Trump?"

[m-lekktor]

15. Most people here, including me, thought Hillary was going to destroy Trump in the general election.

So, based on that, who the fuck knows one way or the other, our collective record of predicting election results here at DU isn't all that good!

[duffyduff]

16. He couldn't have beaten any Republican

He couldn't win the primary and therefore not a viable candidate.

He was not vetted by the media. He was not considered a serious candidate.

If he had been vetted, he would not have carried a single state outside Vermont. His writings, which were strictly New Left and sexual liberation bullshit, would have sunk him. His videos bragging up Castro likely disqualified him.

He is also a big time liar, which was glaringly obvious with his Vatican debacle.

Bloomberg would have still run an independent candidacy if the GOP had nominated somebody like Cruz.

Sanders had no business running as a Democrat given his MASSIVE baggage.

[BlueMTexpat]

18. We'll never know about any

Republican im 2016.

What we do know is that Bernie did not beat Hillary. Period.